Avatar The Last Airbender, Book Four: Air
by MrWezlum18
Summary: The fourth season that was never written. Even with Ozai's defeat, the struggles of both the Avatar and the new firelord have yet to end. How can they find peace for the world, if they cannot even find peace within themselves? Most of the ideas I had for this story pretty much predicted The Promise, so I'm not exactly sure where to go from here. . .
1. chapter 1: A World Divided

**_Avatar**

_The Last Airbender

_Book Four: Air

_Chapter 1: A World Divided

"**Today, this war is finally over. I promised my uncle that I would restore the honor of the Fire Nation, and I will. The road ahead will be challenging; A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided, but with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path and begin a new era of love and peace."**

Firelord Zuko, Book three chapter 21

Firelord Zuko's past statement rang in his head, as he looked back into the accusatory glares of the Earth Kingdom Generals.

"Why should we believe you?"

Zuko was attending a peace conference with the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe and his most trusted lieutenants, including Hakoda, and the Earth Kingdoms Council of Five: Five High Generals who had led the Earth Kingdom armies from Ba Sing Se. General Fong was also present.

Aang sat in to represent the Air Nomads.

Zuko had sent messengers to the other countries a week ago in hopes of finally bringing an end to the fighting. He had allowed them to come up with the meeting place: an ancient temple that sat on an island almost exactly in the middle of borders of the four nations. The Earth King and his bear, Bosco, were still missing though, and King Bumi had taken ill recently and could not come, so there was no one to represent the Earth Kingdom but its remaining Generals. With six Generals sitting at the conference table, the Water tribe Chief: Arnook wouldn't come unless he had five military minds with him as well. Zuko on the other hand, had scrounged together who he could at the last second. He didn't trust any of them, since they had all served under his father...

He needed the Fire Nation to look remorseful, but not weak. So there they sat at a large round table, looking more like a they were drawing the lines of war than discussing peace.

A moment ago, for the eighteenth time, Zuko had asked for an armistice so that all the nations could begin to disarm. (An abrupt surrender would not satisfy those in the respective nations who DID desire more war, of which there were far too many to be ignored. But a supposedly temporary peace might help them get used to the idea.)

Unfortunately, the Earth Kingdom Generals were not of the same mind. They each had a long list of grievances towards Zuko and his country. Some involved the abuse of the citizens in Ba Sing Se and Omashu by Fire Nation soldiers; and the burning of farmland and homes during the many battles that had taken place under Firelord Ozai's rule. Other grievances were more personal: family members and homes lost to the war. Battle scars marked almost all the generals before him. Namely the one that addressed Zuko now: General Howe; the Leader of the Council of Five, and infamous around the world for the brutality of his tactics which were matched only by the tactics of only the worst of the Fire Nation's Generals.

"Well? Why should we believe this?", said General Howe again. "I suppose while we withdraw, your armies will come up from the rear and take us out?"

Hakoda moved to say something, but Chief Arnook held up his hand to keep him quiet.

"No, I-" Zuko began, but the general interrupted him,

"That is how your grandfather, Firelord Azulon, conquered the Hu Xin province is it not?"

"Maybe, but I'm NOT my-"

"History has shown that violence tends to run in your family, am I wrong?"

"You will NOT speak of the Firelord's family that way!"ordered one of Zuko's generals. Zuko raised a hand to silence him, and realized with a jolt that it was General Bujing, the same man he had spoken against at 'that' war meeting years ago... Just looking at him made Zuko's scar twinge.

"I shall speak however I wish!" roared General Howe, flaring up at once.

Bujing could not completely stop his lips from forming a small smirk; the 'Peace Conference' would not end well if the leading Earth General was made angry.

Zuko saw Bujing's expression, and knew that he was being played.

Yes, violence did run in Zuko's family. There was no denying it. But that was his father's side of the family; on his mother's side, Zuko was descended from none other than Avatar Roku. If only that meant something. If Zuko brought it up, it would certainly startle everyone. But, at best, Zuko would be reminded that Roku's line also gave birth to Azula. At worst, he would be told to prove it; something that Zuko could not do with only Uncle Iroh's word to go on. Uncle Iroh: the infamous Fire Nation General and Firelord Ozai's brother.

"You claim to want peace," spat General How, "While those who sit by your ear are men who used their own prisoners of war as decoys while they attacking our flanks!"

"I cannot help it if you and your men have so many rocks in your heads that you could not recognize your own countrymen." said Bujing coolly.

"Be silent, General Bujing! Or I will have you removed from this meeting." growled Zuko.

Bujiing pursed his lips, although the mocking look in his eyes remained. He was clearly remembering the last time Zuko had cut him off...

Zuko was losing control of this meeting. He had been a fool to bring Bujing. Now that Zuko thought of it, he dimly remembered that it had been Howe leading the Earth army when Bujing had been leading the conquest.

"You claim to want peace," began General How again," And yet before me sit my mortal enemies, the most despicable men ever to lead a charge. And you no less, Firelord Zuko. I have heard many things about you during those travels that you say 'enlightened you to the state of the world'. You attacked the Southern Water Tribe, and Kyoshi Island, and many other Earth Kingdom villages. Whatever goals you were actually working for, you were not above allying yourself with pirates, bounty hunters, and all manner of scum to achieve them. To top it all off, it was you and your sister who carried out the coup to overthrow Ba Sing Se."

"Yes, two children overthrew your city-" cut in Bujing.

"Bite your tongue and begone from this meeting General Bujing!" shouted Zuko, a small burst of flame coming out his mouth as he spoke. Bujing scowled as he got up, but as he left, Zuko thought he saw a gleam of triumph in Bujing's eye. Out of Zuko's line of vision, Hakota had leaned over to speak frantically in Arnook's ear.

Sabotaged by his own General, his own political inexperience, and the list of his own failures; Zuko was getting close to the breaking point. In a minute, he was either going to challenge Howe to a duel or just blow up the whole room. He looked towards Aang for some support, but he only shrugged and put his elbows on the table to rest his chin on his hands.

"I find as little reason to trust you as I would your father, **boy**." General Howe concluded.

Zuko's composure cracked; but before he could do or say anything, Chief Arnook cut in, "It would seem that the Earth Kingdom's great General Howe is quick to discard formalities and quicker to incite hostility. It's almost as if you want the war to continue."

General Howe, turned an ugly shade of purple at this, surprise and anger etched all over his face as he turned to Chief Arnook, "I want the war to end, but not at the cost of the Earth Kingdom's freedom!"

"Have you forgotten that it was General Iroh and Admiral Jheong Jheong of the Fire Nation that liberated Ba Sing Se in the first place? Not to mention Master Pakkun of my own tribe and King Bumi of Omashu?" retorted Chief Arnook.

"I have not forgotten, nor have I forgotten that they did this while utilizing an organization that whose practices no one here can account for. I see they have no representatives, why should we trust them? It was Iroh that led the campaign to take Ba Sing Se in the first place, and it was Iroh who was this boy's close confidant while he paraded about our lands."

"You are determined, I see," Arnook said calmly, "to find suspicion in the word of every one here, even that of your allies. Be silent Howe, now I must address the new Firelord."

General Howe did so, but his glare was colder than the frozen north.

Arnook turned to address Zuko, "As General Howe says, there are many reasons to doubt your sincerity. I too have my own list of grievances towards you and your country. The ransacking of our sister tribe in the south, the destruction of my own tribe last winter. Your confidant, General Iroh was a leading General at that battle. I have eyewitness accounts saying that you, personally, infiltrated the city as far as the Spirit Oasis, our most sacred land, to attack the Avatar. I lost Yue, my only daughter, in that battle; and for all I know, it may have been you who killed her. But I am tired, I have lived a long time and seen too much strife; If there is an opportunity to end this war, I will take it for the sake of my people."

Aang was gazing at Chief Arnook intently. Zuko couldn't help but respect this man. He was also listing Zuko's misdeeds, but his calm voice did not incite anger. It allowed Zuko to cool off and really listen to him.

"I propose," Arnook went on, addressing General Howe, "that we agree to the armistice, but the Fire Nation must allow for us to send our own overseers to ensure that the Fire Nation is holding up it's side of the deal."

General Howe mulled this over for a long time; until finally, "Agreed." he said, grudgingly.

Hakoda threw Zuko an apologetic look across the table, which General Fong noticed with some disgust.

Zuko was not so pleased with this arrangement, however. The Fire Nation was still seen as the enemy with this deal. But he accepted the terms and put his seal on the documents, finalizing the compromise.

As the sun set, the meeting adjourned, the representatives all began to get up and head back to their respective outposts on the beaches. Aang walked briskly through the trees surrounding the temple, back to where he had set up camp, where Appa was waiting, along with Katara...

About half way there, Zuko caught up to him. Aang turned at the sound of his name. Zuko did not look happy. In fact he looked like he would breathe fire at any second, again.

"Aang, why didn't you say anything back there!"

Silence.

"As the Avatar, they would have listened to anything you would've said!"

Aang did not reply.

"Aren't you going to say anything!"

Finally Aang spoke, "This is your test, your first challenge as Firelord."

"You still could have vouched for me when Howe was-"

"They know you and I are friends, they would have seen it as you using the Avatar to intimidate them into submitting to your wishes. Besides, I said when the meeting began that I was sitting in as an Air Nomad, not as the Avatar. I was only there because there isn't any one else."

Zuko couldn't come up with a good argument for this. "But the Water tribe Chief-"

"-lost his daughter to the Fire Nation. I may have helped save his tribe, and even though Hakoda is on your side, there is no changing the fact that he has suffered because of your family."

Zuko sighed in frustration. "I know you're right, and I knew this wasn't going to be easy. But I never imagined it would be this hard. I thought they'd all welcome a chance for peace..."

"They want peace, but they also want to settle their grudges. By all rights, I should be on their side for the sake of my people."

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "Well its not like I can just hand them every Fire Nation soldier that ever hurt someone in battle." he said impatiently.

"I know." said Aang, "You need to convince them to accept the Fire Nation's desire for peace without encouraging them to pick a fight with you and start this war all over again."

"Except the roles of the nations would be reversed this time." said Zuko dryly.

"Exactly."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"I think you should find a way to prove your sincerity to them, or else they'll just keep thinking you're trying to lure them in to a false sense of security."

"A way to prove my sincerity...?" Zuko wondered, "Such as?"

"That I can't answer." said Aang tiredly, "I don't know what else I can tell you."

"What would it take to prove myself to someone like Howe?" thought Zuko aloud.

Aang put a comforting hand on Zuko's shoulder, "How 'bout a gift basket?"

Zuko cracked up, the tension finally broken.

"Don't worry Zuko, the answer will come to you in time."

"Thanks Aang. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"Don't worry about it. Hey, do want to come down to the camp and eat with me and the others?"

"They're all here?"

"Well, Toph is in Omashu and Sokka is visiting Suki on Kyoshi Island, so when I say 'the others' I pretty much just mean Katara, Aapa and Momo." said Aang with a grin.

Zuko thought for a moment, spending the night eating and laughing with two of his closest friends seemed like just the thing he needed after that disaster of a meeting, and the thought greatly appealed to him. But he took Aang's previous words into account as well...

"It's probably best that I don't. The other nations already know we are friends, if we are seen at either of each others campsites, then it will look like we are plotting something."

Aang looked disappointed, but he brightened up and said, "Well then we'll owe you a drink at the Jasmine Dragon, okay?"

Zuko chuckled, "Okay, deal."

With that, they went their separate ways.

Daylight was almost completely gone and Aang could already see the light of the campfire ahead of him, but his thoughts had turned inward again. He had been sincere when he gave Zuko his reasons for not intervening earlier, but he had kept a couple to himself. The first was that he was the Avatar. As the Avatar he had the power to force the opposing nations to accept a truce, but that did not seem right. His role had ended when he defeated Ozai, right? Now his duty was to... to do whatever his next duty was, but the long awaited peace had to be made by the four nations themselves didn't it? That was when Aang had realized that no one could represent the Air Nomads but himself so he had decided to attend. If only Gyattso were alive, he'd have done a much better job...

The other reason was that Aang was feeling very distracted lately by his relationship with Katara.

He and Katara were finally a couple, ever since the last time the whole gang was together in Ba Sing Se, everything he had dreamed of for months had come true. But even so, he couldn't put his finger on it, but something felt off.

Not just in himself, but with Katara as well...

**Zuko** on the other hand was also thinking of that time in the Jasmine Dragon, and of his relationship with Mai...

'I think,' he thought to himself, 'I have one more reason to keep well away from Aang and Katara right now...'

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2: Fire and Water

**Previously, on Avatar...**

"I find as little reason to trust you as I would your father, **boy**." General Howe concluded.

"I propose," Arnook went on, addressing General Howe, "that we agree to the armistice, but the Fire Nation must allow for us to send our own overseers to ensure that the Fire Nation is holding up it's side of the deal."

"They want peace, but they also want to settle their grudges."

"Well then we'll owe you a drink at the Jasmine Dragon, okay?"

'I think, I have one more reason to keep well away from Aang and Katara right now...'

**Avatar: The Last Airbender**

**book four: Air**

**Chapter two, Fire and Water**

Zuko strode into the Fire Nation campsite. His guards saluted him as he walked by. It was a sign of respect, but he still felt uncomfortable with the attention.

Heading straight into the Firelord's quarters, Zuko was ready to just flop down on the soft mattress. He wasn't sleepy, but he relished the idea of not thinking for a while.

But as he sat down he was met with Mai draping her arms around his neck from behind.

"Hey." she said simply.

"Hey."

"How'd it go?"

"You haven't heard?"

"Yes I have, but I figured it would be nice to ask anyway."

"What if I don't want to talk about it?" Zuko said tonelessly.

"Then I won't force you to."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Feeling a little awkward, Zuko popped a question, "So how was your day?"

Letting go of Zuko's neck, Mai sat down next to him on the bed, "Uneventful, just the way I like it."

"Lucky-" Zuko began.

"-is what I'd like to say. But while I was trying to lounge, all your lieutenants kept coming in with some report or another that the meeting was still in session or that nothing had happened the woods to suggest we were under attack or whatever. Even when I told them to knock it off, they said they were only doing their jobs."

"It's standard procedure; but yeah, sounds annoying."

"It was; To tell you the truth, when I heard what happened at the meeting, I wasn't really surprised. When I was traveling with Azula, people were always cowering in fear they saw us."

When Zuko just 'hmpfed', Mai turned his face to look at hers, "Don't worry, it'll work out."

"Whatever." Zuko said, then added, "If my own Generals have anything to say about it, we'll be at war for another hundred years."

"Yeah, I heard about that too." said Mai sourly, "Why on earth did you bring Bujing?"

"I kind of picked them in a rush. The news of the other nations bringing Generals was so late, I barely even looked at them and they took advantage of it. In fact," he said, standing up, "We're going to have a reckoning, I can't let him get away with that."

Mai sighed, "Come back soon okay?"

Zuko didn't hear her, he was already on his way out.

XXXX

Except Zuko didn't go to the Generals quarters. Discarding his royal robes, revealed his casual outfit, the one he wore while traveling with Aang, underneath, Zuko left the camp unnoticed.

Finding a random trail, Zuko walked the winding path. It was going steadily uphill. Fitting.

Soon he found himself on top of the mountain in the center of the island. Despite the darkness, he could see everything. He could see all four campsites on the four corners of the island, and he could see the temple resting down below. It rested about halfway up the mountainside. He could hear a waterfall nearby, and a soft breeze ruffled his hair. It was extremely peaceful.

'Peace' he thought to himself, 'Maybe we should have held the peace talks here.'

Undoing his sash and robe, Zuko stripped so that his upper body was completely bare. Zuko sank into the horse-riding stance: Firebending: Form one.

Exhaling air in time with his movements, Zuko released fireball after fireball as he went through the basics. He kept his careful control so as not to damage the surroundings.

Finishing the set, Zuko took a deep breath. He winced slightly, feeling the burn scar on his chest expanding. Touching it, feeling the marked skin. It still hadn't healed completely, but he knew it would leave a permanent mark...

Shrugging the thought away, Azula had come off much worse from that fight anyway.

He stood in high-crane stance: Firebending: Form two.

Zuko could feel his anxiety draining out of him with each burst of red and orange.

Finishing the set, Zuko could feel sweat beginning to form on his forehead. He wiped it away with the back of his hand, his hand brushing the scar on his head. Touching it caused memories to involuntarily flash through his mind.

Remembering Bujing's mocking face, Zuko made a note to actually confront him before they went back to the Fire Nation.

Firebending: Form three and Form Four were more complicated than the others. They required more concentration, and allowed him to vent more steam.

Feeling reasonably tired, Zuko shifted back into horse-stance. Taking a deep breath, he practiced a much less well known form. He had nicknamed it 'Form Zero', because its real name was rather embarrassing...

Finishing the set, Zuko suddenly froze. His ears perked up. He could have sworn he heard something... In the unfamiliar terrain, however, he could not very well sense anything out of the ordinary.

Dismissing it, Zuko skipped a few forms to try form ten. It consisted of one move, but was exceedingly hard to do. He hadn't tried it for months.

Clearing his mind completely, Zuko charged his fingertips with his chakras and went through the hand movements required to generate lightning. He could feel the raw energy surge through his arm, and this time he could feel that he would succeed.

But as he jabbed his hand towards the sky, the energy exploded out of him. With a loud bang that echoed around the area, Zuko was thrown off his feet. He went flying through the air, screaming the whole way. As he landed, he hit his head on a sharp rock and his body went limp.

Distantly he thought he heard someone call his name...

"Zuuu...koooooooohh..." he couldn't hear well anymore as he sand deeper into unconsciousness.

XXXX

Zuko felt like he was floating in water, his body soothed by its cool embrace. It didn't last long however; he woke up to a throbbing headache.

Groaning a little, he opened his eyes and registered a soft blue glow in his peripheral vision. The area that the glow covered felt amazing, contrasting heavily with the pain in his left temple.

"A little higher." he whispered. The glow moved a little closer to the corner of his eye, and he gave a sigh of relief as the pain receded completely.

"That was quite a move, if you had turned around and done it during the comet, you could have knocked out Azula with your thick skull." came the soft voice. Soft, but still jabbing his pride a bit.

"Very funny Katara. I suppose that could have been my trump card if I hadn't been so busy getting struck by lightning." Zuko replied sarcastically.

"Hey, I never said I wasn't grateful. But you DID kind of ask for it," Katara jibed, she put on a serious-but-not voice, "'What, No lightning today? Afraid I'll redirect it?'"

Zuko felt his cheeks burning, and not from fire burn. "What are you doing here anyway?" he said, quickly changing the subject.

"Well obviously I'm healing your thick skull, remember?"

"No, I mean-"

"I know what you mean, I was taking a walk around the island and enjoying the moonlight. Actually, it's a good thing the moon is out or it would have taken me twice as long to patch you up."

"Okay, but what are you doing HERE?"

"I told you, I was taking a walk. I was about three quarters of the way up the mountain, when I saw someone firebending. I decided to investigate, but it just turned out to be you."

"Um... how much of it did you see?"

"I came just in time to see the solo version of the Dancing Dragon."

"So that was you laughing? Er... I prefer to call it-"

"-Form Zero? That's a pretty cool name for such a dorky dance."

"It's an ancient, traditional form of firebending-"

"-that happens to be in the form of a crazy looking dance." Katara finished for him, obviously enjoying the opportunity to push Zuko's buttons.

"Hey stop-"

"-finishing your sentences for you?"

Now thoroughly irritated, Zuko sat up; and also realized that his head had been lying in Katara's lap the whole time, making him turn an even darker shade of red. He turned his face away, to hide this.

They sat there for a moment; Zuko sat with his legs folded, and Katara sitting on her knees.

Zuko was lost in his thoughts, he found himself quite disturbed that he still couldn't generate lightning. Uncle Iroh had told him that he needed complete inner peace, which he thought he had found already...

Katara, mistaking the gesture for anger, also found herself feeling embarrassed. Had she gone too far?

"Um... I'm sorry, I'll stop."

"What?" asked Zuko, turning around, confused.

"I'm sorry, I'll stop bugging you." she said a little louder.

Zuko opened his mouth, but couldn't really come up with anything to say to explain himself. But then an idea struck him.

"What are you sorry for again?" He asked, playing dumb.

"I guess I was being-" Katara began.

"-your usual self?" Zuko cut in, hiding his grin.

"-insensitive," Katara continued, turning a little red now herself, "I should have expected you to be a little sore about getting knocked down, but I still-"

"-acted like your usual self?"

"-poked at your pride," she went on; sounding distinctly miffed now, having realized his game, "Even though everyone knows that Zuko's pride is more important than the balance of the universe!" she ended sarcastically.

"So much sarcasm tonight, I guess you and Sokka really ARE related." Zuko replied, jovially.

"And you're very rude tonight, I guess you and Azula really ARE related!" Katara burst out.

Zuko's face fell, "Too mean." he muttered, sourly.

Katara's sense caught up with her, "Oh, I'm so sorry Zu-"

"-Gotcha, Flama!"

Katara was so taken aback that she completely froze. "What? What in the name of Tui and La does THAT mean?"

Zuko turned a little red again, looking away, he said, "In the Fire Nation, when you trick someone into thinking they made you angry; you yell 'Gotcha Flama'. You know, because of anger being associated with fire? You're a flamer, get it?"

"I think so..."

"Usually only kids do that, but it's been so long since I did that I couldn't resist."

"Who knew the Firelord was such an immature dork?" said Katara, her wit returning in full force.

They both laughed.

XXXX

"So," said Zuko, a while later. They were sitting on a rock looking at the moon; Zuko's shirt back on. "What brought you to this neck of the woods? Or mountain rather."

"I was-"

"-Taking a walk, I know. But why? What about Aang?"

Katara shifted uncomfortably, "He just kind of ate and went to sleep."

"Did he tell you what happened at the meeting?"

"He told me that you were on the losing end of the argument most of the time."

"That's an understatement." Zuko said bitterly.

"What happened?"

"They pretty much took turns comparing me to my relatives."

"That's awful! You're nothing like them-"

"Well, before I dropped off the map following the invasion of the north, I was."

"That's in the past though."

"And there's that incident at Ba Sing Se that they just loved the bring up."

"Yeah, I remember that." Katara replied darkly.

"The deal is," he went on, dully "If I even imagine invading another nation, the Fire Nation is toast."

Katara giggled, "Nice pun, It's nice to see you've mellowed out a bit."

Zuko shrugged, "I blame it on hanging out with you guys for so long."

"No, it's not that. Not completely anyway. If a sense of humor was THAT infectious, your jokes would be stupider than Sokka's."

"So..?"

"Maybe, you're just finally coming out of your shell."

Zuko was lost for words.

"Well..." he began awkwardly, "Um... I guess... having to be so... serious all of the time, I... um all of the time as Firelord; I suppose a bit of a... uh... a bit of a silly streak would start to..."

"Build up?" Katara offered.

"Um... yeah." Zuko said lamely, wondering if he was some kind of repressed comedian.

"Well, then I guess every once in while you should take some time off from being Firelord and find someone you can act stupid with."

Zuko was lost for words, again. Did she just offer to...?

"I'm sorry, I mean act like yourself with." Katara corrected herself with a smirk.

At this Zuko found his voice, "Hey!"

XXXX

A while later still.

"You want me to walk you back to your camp?" Zuko asked tentatively.

"Your camp is on the opposite side of the island from mine, that's a bit of a walk isn't it?"

"I suppose I could borrow Appa..."

"Nope, Aang sleeps on his tail."

"Oh yeah, What's his story anyway?"

"He said he was going to need all his energy for tomorrow and for that he would need to go to bed early."

"What does HE need energy for?"

"He's trying to think of a way to bring back the Air Nomads, and he thinks the first step is to revisit all of the Air Temples."

"You'll be going with I suppose?"

"Yeah... I guess it'll be a while before we see you again." said Katara, a little sadly.

"Yeah... I guess so. Um... Good-bye I guess."

"Uh-huh." Katara was looking uncertain about something. "Well good luck Zuko, you know you have the support of your friends."

"Yeah, I know. Well, I'll see you later then."

"See you Zuko."

They started to go their separate ways, both of them walking backwards so that they were still facing each other.

"Don't forget to visit when you go to the Western Temple." called Zuko.

"We won't." Katara said, having to raise her voice to be heard.

They were each going down a different mountain path, getting further apart with each step.

Zuko watched Katara as she turned away, a million thoughts running through his head. He suddenly didn't want her to go, wanted to spend at least another hour with her. Laughing, talking, and pushing each others buttons. It was so nice to just act his age with someone, anyone. But was that all he wanted?

"Hey Katara!" he called.

She turned around, as the hours wore on the full moon was setting, framing her and lighting up her features with its pale light. She looked like an apparition from the Spirit World.

"Yes?"

"When Aang wakes up, tell him that he better make that drink a double. He'll know what it means."

XXXX

It was about four in the morning when Zuko finally got back to camp. Amazingly, no one had missed him. For this he was grateful, he really didn't want to deal with the questions. He shoved the Firelord robe in a trunk. He was especially grateful that Mai had already fallen asleep when he lay down on the mattress next to her, he didn't feel much like talking anymore as his fatigue caught up with him. Although he also felt bad for not returning sooner, it was no lie that he felt better than he had for the last two weeks.

Somewhere on the other side of the island, Katara was feeling the exact same thing.

To be continued...


	3. To my readers

The reason I never got back to this was, one working on other fics, and two, working on life. Before I knew it, The Promise and Legend of Korra had come out and left me stumped as to what to do with my once promising story. The story I was planning to write was pretty much the same thing as what The Promise turned out to be. . .

This is the first time I've seriously contemplated continuing it since I put up chapter 2, but, like I said, I'm stumped. I'll need to re-do what I've already done, check the spelling, tidy up the dialogue, etc. Hopefully by then I'll have had some kind of brainwave. I'm changing the name too, so I'll post the redo as a separate story with a link to it here.

I'm planning to have this done by March 15, 2013. If it's not up by then, flood my inbox with reminders. Seriously, I may forget. If I decide to change my mind about doing this, I will tell you as much.

To anyone who read this when it was first posted, I'm humbled and grateful for your time and your reviews. It was only after reading them again that I decided to return to this near-forgotten idea. . .


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